captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> woodruff: president obama hailed another month of job growth, while mitt romney cited an up-tick in the unemployment rate as proof of an economic standstill. good evening. i'm judy woodruff. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. on the newshour tonight, with the final data before election day now out, we look at the overall jobs picture in america, and how the candidates are and are not addressing it. >> woodruff: then, long gas lines, continuing power outages, and massive cleanup efforts in the northeast. ray suarez updates the slow climb back after the storm. >> brown: ordinary citizens, some of them school children, caught in the crossfire in syria's war. margaret warner has our report. >> as syrian rebels expand the areas they control, the assad regime has turned to

long-range artillery and air attacks to hit the opposition and civilians as well. >> woodruff: we have a "battleground" dispatch from iowa, where immigration is rarely mentioned by the candidates, but is on the minds of voters. >> although latinos make up only 5% of iowa's population, their numbers have increased by 110% over the last ten years. >> brown: plus mark shields and david brooks analyze the week's news. >> woodruff: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> intel

>> support also comes from carnegie corporation of new york, a foundation created to do what andrew carnegie called "real and permanent good." celebrating 100 years of philanthropy at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and friends of the newshour. and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> brown: on this final friday before election day, there was word that jobs are on the increase, but so is unemployment. the numbers were seized upon by the presidential candidates as they began making closing

arguments on an issue that's been front and center throughout the campaign. did an economy in need of a spark find one in october? u.s. employers across nearly all sectors were hiring, for a net gain of 171,000 new jobs. the labor department also revised its august and september figures higher, by 84,000. all told, it signaled slow but steady growth, and it was news that president obama wanted to play up in the campaign's final weekend, especially in one critical state. >> "oh (io), oh (io)" >> brown: the president made three stops in the buckeye state, starting in hilliard, just outside columbus. >> in 2008, we were in the middle of two wars and the worst economic crisis since the great depression. and today, our businesses have created nearly five and a half million new jobs. and this morning, we learned

that companies hired more workers in october than at any time in the last eight months. ( applause ) >> brown: and the trend line seemed promising, as well. since july, the economy has added an average of 173,000 jobs per month, up from just 67,000 a month in the spring. at the same time, though, the unemployment rate ticked up a tenth of a point in october to 7.9% as more people began looking for work again. in west allis, wisconsin, the president's republican challenger, mitt romney, focused on that number, insisting again, "we can do better." >> he said he was going to lower the unemployment rate down to 5.2% right now, and today we learn it's actually 7.9%, and that's nine million jobs short of what he promised. unemployment is higher today than when barack obama took office. >> brown: what's more, romney warned, sticking with the president's economic policies will guarantee gridlock and worse. >> unless we change course, we may be looking at another recession.

you can choose real change. you know that if the president is re-elected, he will still be unable to work with the people in congress. he has ignored them, attacked them, blamed them. the debt ceiling will come up again, and shutdown and default will be threatened, chilling the economy. >> brown: in turn, mr. obama accused his opponent of trying to scare voters over their economic futures. he pointed to a romney ad running in ohio that charges jeep is shipping jobs to china. >> you've got folks who work at the jeep plant who've been calling their employers worried, asking, "is it true? are our jobs being shipped to china?" and the reason they've been making these calls is that governor romney's been running an ad that says so. except it's not true. >> brown: chrysler has said it has no plans to move the jobs. the romney campaign insists it's

standing by its claim. there promised to be much more battling over economic policy, with the race in a dead heat and going down to the wire. we look now at the jobs picture with two economists with ties to the presidential candidates: john taylor of stanford university and the hoover institution. he advises the romney campaign on economic issues. and austan goolsbee of the university of chicago's booth school of business. he served as president obama's chairman of the council of economic advisers until last year. to the extent mob set aside the rhetoric of the campaign if you can for a moment, tell us about the bigger picture. what strikes you most, what worries you most about the jobs picture now and in the coming years? >> well, i would say any reputable economist says every month don't just take any one month numbers, try to take a step back and look at the trend that's far more accurate in this. i think if you look at the

trend the overall job creation has been relatively solid for the last three months. the overall growth rate of the economy is the most worrisome thing that it's been modest, you know, moderate growth. and that that is about the fastest growth rate of all the advanced countries of the world. i think the underlying fear that we have is this is not a strong period in the whole world and there are a lot of threats coming from the slowdowns in asia and in europe that we're trying to krofer come and we have to get the growth rate high per if we want to see faster job creation. >> brown: john taylor, same question what is the problem that most needs to be address by whoever is the next president? >> that unemployment rate, it's too high. it shouldn't be this high. and it has increased a bit. but it's increased even more in states like pennsylvania, went up from 7.4 to 8.2 over the last few months. and the reason is the weak economy. we shouldn't be growing this slowly. we have an economy which can

do much better. it's done better in similar periods in the past. and with the right policies it can do much better. gets unemployment down much further. also people dropping out of the labor force. you know, in ohio since the recovery began, 194,000 people just dropped out of the labor force, stopped looking for work. that's another bad sign that i think people should be very concerned about. it's really depressing what's happening with respect to the labor market right now in this country. >> brown: how much of it austan goolsbee, back to you, is the immediate economy, the cyclical-- the cycles that we see and how much of it is what is talked about it as structural issues, changing technology, globalization, a kind of new normal that we've heard about from many people? >> well -- >> i think-- hold on, let me go with austan goolsbee here first. >> okay. >> okay, so two parts of the how much of the unemployment rate is coming from structural, i think not that high. i do think that is the thing

that the economy is going to have to do. the fundamental reason why this recession looks a lot like the 2001 recovery and not the 1983 recovery is we can't go back to doing what we were doing before the recession began. just as in 2001 a bubble popped and then you're trying to shift what the economy is doing. so there is some element of that. but we also have got a significant component as i say of the whole world has slowed down. the u.s. growth rate while not fast enough is faster than the rest of the advanced world. so we've got to find a way to get ourselves boosted up where we're not getting any support from being able to increase our exports to other countries when that is exactly the place that we need to be transforming into. so that is what made it nor difficult. >> brown: what is your answer to that cyclical versus structural, when it comes to jobs? >> i think it's largely cyclical.

it's because the growth rate has been so slow coming out of the recession. and you can't blame the rest of the world. the u.s. has had strong growth in the past when japan has been suffering. and so it's our own problem, it's our own policy that is the trouble right now. and i think that's why i am so frustrated, why i think it's tragic, quite frankly, because we could have better policy. we could have had this unemployment rate down already with the right policy. >> brown: well, staying with you, john taylor, then what can a president, we hear a lot of promises in this campaign. what can a president or president in congress actually do in terms of magic wands. when they say they'll do something, how much can they do immediately to affect the unemployment rate? >> i think they can do a tremendous amount. it's not a magic wand. it's just basic economics. we saw this in the 80s and 90s. it's not a partisan issue. when the right policies are in place, when we don't have all the short termism, the temporary stimulus packages

or increases in regulation, the fiscal cliffs. when we get a solid policies that's predictable the economy grows. and when we have tax reform we get tax rate downs that estimate-- stimulates incentives to hire people t really is basic economics. that why this is tragic. applying basic economie economies-- economics we could do a lot better. >> brown: austan goolsbee, dow want to comment on what the president you work for has done. >> i will just say is we can agree on the basic economics but i think professor taylor has his history a little backward on that. in the 1990s bill clinton raised exactly the high income tax rates that barack obama wants to return the rates to. and the 2000s which he did not mention when george bush followed the policies very similar to what mitt romney is proposing, they actually added more than 1 million fewer private sector jobs if george bush's first term than president obama has under his first term so i

really do not think that the basic economics or the history says that just going back to deregulation and high rate-- high income rate cuts is the thing that leads to growth. >> brown: and do you think professor -- >> two decades of strong growth, we saw two decade, 80ous and 90s with extraordinary growth. economists called it the great moderation long boom and that's because the stable policies are put in place. tax reform, if you like, of 1986. a bipartisan reform president reagan worked with democrats in congress, that is the kind of thing we nude to get the strong economy back. >> back to you pfessor goolsbee, just this question about -- >> i agree with that i think tax reform and a grand bargain type budget deal if done in a balanced way would be a good achievement for both parties and whoever is elected on tuesday i hope they will do that in 2013. >> how much austan gools bee, how much can i a president actually do because we hear so much in a campaign about

what will happen, what will happen quickly if one or the other is elected. >> right. you know, i was in the white house for a while and i used to joke, i crawled all around in the basement, i have yet to find that switch down there that you just flip it and then everything gets better. i think 90 plus percent of what happens in a growing economy has nothing to do with washington. what the president and what washington in general can do is try to set the stage and set a groundwork for policy that could encourage growth. and i think the shorter term that you are thinking about, the less can be done specifically by the president. so if you are asking over a one month or three month period, there's very little the president can do. if you start asking over a five year, ten year period, then the policy decisions they make can influence quite a lot the way things go. >> brown: and john taylor, brief last word on that? >> well, i think as we are

talking about four years what is going to happen the next four years. that say time where a president can make a tremendous difference. and we're talking about the past four years. and the president could have made a much better policy with the unemployment being so high. >> brown: all right, john taylor and austan goolsbee, thanks so much. >> thank you >> brown: and if you're ready for more analysis on the jobs numbers, you'll find it, as always, on paul solman's "making sense" page online. >> woodruff: still to come on the newshour: misery in the aftermath of the super-storm; civilian deaths in syria; a spotlight on immigration in iowa; plus, shields and brooks. but first, the other news of the day. here's kwame holman. >> holman: the news on jobs wasn't enough to lift wall street today. instead, stocks sank on worries that the costs of hurricane sandy will eat into profits. the dow jones industrial average lost 139 points to close at 13,093. the nasdaq fell almost 38 points

to close at 2,982. for the week, the dow and the nasdaq were off a fraction of 1%. korean auto makers hyundai and kia could end up paying hundreds of millions of dollars to car owners as compensation for overstating fuel economy. the environmental protection agency now says an audit revealed that 13 models averaged up to six miles a gallon less than advertised. some 900,000 vehicles sold in the last three years are affected. u.s. intelligence officials have rejected claims they failed to answer the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi, libya. there've been reports the cia told its security officers to "stand down" and not try to repel the attackers. senior intelligence officials denied that on thursday. they said a security team responded within 25 minutes, even though they were outmanned and outgunned. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to judy. >> woodruff: this was another difficult day in the aftermath of hurricane sandy.

the u.s. death toll rose to at least 102, and for millions of people, basic needs became increasingly urgent. ray suarez has the story. >> suarez: four days after sandy hit, patience was in short supply. so were gasoline, electricity and clean water. again today, car after car after car waited long hours at gas stations in new york and new jersey. >> it's crazy because people are fighting, they jumping in front of each other, they want to get out of their car and fight you, so you going to have to stand in line to get gas or you won't get none. >> suarez: this afternoon, in hard-hit ocean county, new jersey, governor chris christie promised help. >> we are working with fema and we have lots of the oil companies... gulf oil and hess have both said that they will deliver gasoline with the national guard and fema to any gas station that is not giving out gas because they are out of gas.

we are on top of the gas situation. >> suarez: frustration was also at a boil on new york city's staten island, where local officials complained they've been largely ignored since monday's storm. >> this is america, not a third world nation. we need food, we need clothing. >> suarez: another fight was brewing over running the new york city marathon sunday morning beginning on staten island. new york city mayor michael bloomberg defended the decision. >> it doesn't use resources that can really make a difference in recovery and that sort of thing. it's a different group of people. we have to work around the clock for people to get through this thing, and i assure you we're doing that. if i thought it took any resources away from that we would, we would not do this. >> bloomberg reversed course and announced the marathon was canceled. further adding to the frustration of many, the power was still off for well over

three million customers, many of them in new york and new jersey. this man lives in far rockaway, in queens. >> we are not sitting around here singing "kumbaya." this is really a dangerous, dangerous situation, and it's a real dangerous place in the dark. >> suarez: the power company, consolidated edison, said it hopes to have all the lights back on in manhattan by tomorrow, but others could wait as long as november 11. new york governor andrew cuomo was unimpressed. >> that will be great for downtown manhattan. i grew up in a place called queens, and there's a place called brooklyn and there's a place called the bronx and a place called staten island. and they need their power back on. >> suarez: food was a pressing need in places like manhattan's lower east side, the "alphabet city" neighborhood, where volunteers have been handing out free meals. a local minister said many people are struggling. >> they see that other areas are being taken care of and they totally overlooked us. now, a couple days later, we are finally getting some resources, and most of the resources that

have come in so far have not come from the city, they have come from different organizations, charitable organizations, churches. >> suarez: meanwhile, the long job of cleaning up moved forward, slowly. >> this is the front of my house. >> suarez: in pleasantville, new jersey, near atlantic city, uprooted trees littered the landscape, along with homes declared "unsafe for human occupancy." returning residents spent the day picking up the pieces. >> this is the house we all grew up in, all my cousins, and it was my grandmother actually grew up in this house. it's been in our family for over 120 years, and it's withstood every hurricane until this one. >> suarez: but for all the sudden new difficulties of just getting through the day, some optimism remained. >> i don't think that's going to defeat us, this one perfect storm. >> suarez: and there were more signs of progress-- federal officials waived a rule that blocks foreign oil tankers from bringing fuel to the northeast.

for more on the problems affecting residents we turn to patrick mcgeehan who has been covering the storm for "the new york times", patrick, i guess emblem at sick what you saw on the west side neighborhood off the hudson river in chelsea, tell us. >> i was down in chelsea today where the power was still out. in a building with no elevators so you had to walk up six flights to get up and down. and it is still dark around there. it's completely different than it is up here in midtown. and it's been that way all week. you know, people are mostly getting around on foot. the cabs are having trouble getting enough gasoline. there's one gas station on the west side in midtown sort of west of the theatre district. and it has a line, it had a line this morning of cars mostly taxi cabs. all the way down to the chelsea neighborhood, about 25 blocks. and it had to represent hours in line and seemed to be growing at the time. >> suarez: are people

frustrated, is there this sense almost everywhere you go that people somewhere else are getting help faster than are you? >> yeah, i think the frustration is starting to build. i think people are reaching the outer limit of their patience with being without power, particularly. i think in the suburbs it's particularly bad because people expect to see a truck pass their house n their neighborhood with people up working on lines. and when they don't see that they think they've been neglected or ignored. so you hear that from long island, you hear that from westchester county. you hear less of that in new york city because people don't really expect to see the repairmen, you know n front of their buildings, necessarily. and their power will come on sort of all at once like in neighborhoods as opposed to out in the suburbs where some people need power restrung right to their house. >> suarez: is there a solid waste problem? i mean with so much damage to so many things in so many places is there a lot of wrecking fetid stuff around

you don't very much to go yet. >> there are places where the city is starting to smechl i was in this building today where i was passing on my way up the stairs i was passing people carrying huge bags of trash down the stairs. that building had not had working toilets since monday there are a number of places like that i was in the company headquarters and they have been without power since monday night. working. they don't have their toilets working either. or they didn't for much of the time. they might be back on now, but it smells bad in some of these buildings and i guess it's going to continue for another day or two. >> are people getting enough information from local government about what they can expect and when? do people feel well informed? >> i think they do. i mean those who are able to get t receiving it is a problem, there has been no shortage of briefings by the

mayor, governor cuomo, governor christie, utility company executives. they are doing lots of outreach but most of the news isn't that good if you are without power. so i don't know how much it makes people feel better. >> suarez: patrick mcgeehan from "the new york times", thanks for joining us. >> sure, thank you. >> brown: hurricane sandy also devastated parts of the caribbean, including haiti, where 54 people died. special correspondent fred de sam lazaro filed a dispatch and photos from port au prince. those are on our "world" page. >> woodruff: and we turn now to syria. the newshour sent freelance video journalist toby muse there recently to see how civilians are faring. as margaret warner reports, many have become targets in the country's civil war. a warning-- some images may be disturbing.

>> warner: within the walls of a secret school in northwest syria, young students are studying arithmetic, english and arabic. their wide eyes and smiles betray little of the war raging just outside in the streets of their town of al-bab and across their country. >> and what does he think of the planes when they fly overhead? >> ( translated ): he doesn't fear. >> warner: run by teachers who asked to remain anonymous, this classroom was opened just weeks ago in al-bab, a city of 120,000 less than an hour from aleppo and now ostensibly under control of the rebel forces of the free syrian army or f.s.a. in f.s.a. areas like these, the syrian government is increasingly turning to air and long-range artillery attacks, hitting not only rebels, but civilian institutions, too. six schools in al-bab were

bombed in the last two months, this one by a mig fighter jet in september, just before students were set to return from summer vacation. although some schools remain standing, the scorched murals and homework sheets amidst the rubble warn parents not to send their children back. that's given rise to clandestine classrooms like this one in places thought safer from detection and attack. >> we are all terrified from the situation because we do not know when we will die. >> warner: abdul latif is an opposition activist in al-bab. >> it's not the schools that are the target only. it's anywhere, anyplace. all places in the city are a target. >> warner: on the day a newshour crew visited town, reports of a fighter jet approaching sent residents fleeing for safety. though reliable statistics are hard to come by, one activist group estimates more than 32,000 have been killed in the 19 months since the syrian civil war began. and of those, the vast majority are estimated to be civilians.

>> it's one of the worst civilian death tolls of any conflict in the world in the last few years. >> warner: tom malinowski is director of human rights watch in washington, d.c., which is working to monitor the situation on the ground. >> one horrific example involves the shelling and bombing of bread lines in cities like aleppo. syrian civilians come out to line up for bread at these bakeries. it's the only way they have of feeding their families. and when a large group of people gathers, a bomb lands or a shell lands. it's very hard to imagine that that's random. >> warner: one instance-- on august 21, a government helicopter opened fire on a breadline in an aleppo suburb, killing 21. >> they attack bakeries where they know people are going to be and get at the food supply of the population. they burn houses, dwellings for

civilians. >> warner: jeffrey white, a defense fellow at the washington institute for near east policy, says the syrian government is waging a deliberate "scorched earth" strategy. >> it's trying to get at f.s.a. units that are embedded inside the population. where people are, the f.s.a. tends to be. so it is trying to strike at the f.s.a., cause some attrition on them. but it's also trying to punish the people, the civilians, for supporting the f.s.a. the relationship between the f.s.a. units and the people is critical to the success of the rebellion >> warner: why don't the regime forces just go into these areas and take them and hold them? >> it basically can't do that any longer. six months ago, they could go anywhere in the country, effectively, they wanted with armor mechanized forces backed up by artillery, and simply push the f.s.a. out of the area and retake the area and reestablish a presence. the opposition is strong enough now that the regime's ground forces, to go into those areas, is a punishing affair for the regime.

>> warner: throughout the conflict, syrian president bashar al-assad has blamed the high civilian deaths on the rebels, foreign agents and military accidents. >> ( translated ): we do not carry out these acts because we love to spill blood. this battle was forced upon us and the result is this blood that has been spilled. >> warner: malinowski of human rights watch says the rebels do have abuses to account for, too. >> the overwhelming majority of human rights abuses have been committed by the syrian government and its militia allies. that doesn't' mean the rebels have been perfect. >> warner: just today, video surfaced of f.s.a. forces allegedly executing unarmed syrian soldiers, though the veracity of the video could not be verified. still, when it comes to killing civilians, independent observers hold the regime primarily responsible. in late may, more than 100 men, women and children were

butchered in the village of houla. a united nations-appointed panel said government forces and loyalist militias were responsible for the massacre. then, too, president assad denied his regime's forces were involved. >> ( translated ): in reality, even monsters would not carry out what we have seen, especially what we saw in the houla massacre. we as syrians have lived during this period and will continue to feel embarrassment every time we remember it as long as we are alive. >> warner: tom malinowski says the assad regime will ultimately pay a price for a pattern of killing that violates the geneva conventions. >> if the government is bombing a city, even with the intent of killing rebels, but if it's using weapons that are... fall indiscriminately and kill a lot of civilians, that's also a violation of international law. >> warner: but the threat of legal action offers no protection to these students,

who now dream of what they'll become when they grow up. >> dentist. >> teacher". >> warner: no one can tell them when this war will end, what kind of country they will inherit, and whether they'll live to fulfill those dreams. >> brown: next, immigration may not be a front-burner issue for the presidential candidates right now, but it is something many voters care about in the swing state of iowa. paul yeager of iowa public television reports on how demographic shifts in his state are changing the political landscape. his story is part of our new collaboration with public media partners across the country from areas that will likely determine the outcome of the election in a series we call "battleground dispatches." >> reporter: last fall, in the run up to the republican caucuses, illegal immigration

was a hot topic on the campaign trail in iowa. >> if you hire someone who is illegal, we're going to sanction you. >> reporter: but this fall, despite numerous appearances by president obama and mitt romney, the issue is almost never mentioned in this key battleground state. it's surprising. because although latinos make up only 5% of iowa's population, their numbers have increased by 110% over the last ten years. perhaps nowhere is that growth more evident than right here. perry, iowa, has a population of about 8,000 people. it's located north and west of des moines, and was founded by german immigrants who worked on the railroad. but over the last 30 years, the population has changed. immigrants have come from central and south america looking for work, and they're finding it at the local meat packing plant. jay pattee owns ben's five and dime store and serves as the town's mayor. he's watched as nearly 3,000

latino immigrants arrived in perry, many to work at the tyson pork processing plant. >> perry was a pretty ivory place in 1980 when we moved here. and when it started to change, i think some people were afraid of the change. i guess it's the fear of the unexpected. >> reporter: does that exist at all today? >> maybe so. it's a lot less evident than it was. >> reporter: according to the mayor, one reason the town has adjusted so well is that newcomers were never isolated in separate neighborhoods or schools. pattee, a conservative democrat, thinks that has made folks more moderate on the immigration issue and less tolerant of extremist language used by some candidates. >> michelle bachmann came to

perry to build up support for her really tough stance on immigration, and i think she was disappointed in what she got out of here. >> reporter: even philip stone, a retired school teacher, city councilman and lifelong republican, was disturbed by the tone he heard during the caucuses, especially when candidates proposed deporting illegal immigrants. >> i don't think we can send them back, being realistic. we're not in a position to upend families in the neighborhood of eight million people, and send them back. >> reporter: and he worries that anti-immigrant rhetoric is turning off a group of potential voters. >> as a republican, i think there are a lot of opportunities to work into the latino communities, bring these people

in. it's unfortunate that it's such a hot issue with some people that prevents it a little bit. >> reporter: are they welcome? >> i'm sure they would be. but i'm sure their perception is that the republican party is not theirs, for a variety of reasons. >> reporter: iowa has seen it's share of deportations of illegal workers, most notably in huge meatpacking raids in postville and marshalltown four and six years ago. but those factories have since been closed or taken over. tyson foods is now one of the largest meat processors in the state, and uses a system called e-verify to check the legal status of workers. it's a system operated by the department of homeland security, and is used on a voluntary basis across the country. mitt romney has said he would like to see more states require that businesses use it. farmer and republican state

representative julian garrett sponsored a bill that would do just than in iowa. >> it's a very simple system. it isn't costly to business. with all of the problems we've had at the border, it just struck me that this is so simple and efficient and would have a huge impact on the problem. >> reporter: garrett's bill failed in the statehouse earlier this year, but he's hoping to try again next session. >> legitimate businesses see their competitors hiring illegals and paying substandard wages. and that puts your honest person at a competitive disadvantage because they're paying higher wages. that's not fair to them. in fact, it puts them under pressure to violate the law themselves to stay in business and compete.

>> reporter: tony sweet, a manager at the perry plant, likes the e-verify system, but thinks to really solve the problem, more must be done at the border. >> one of the issues that has come up is, "do we need more immigration laws?" and my opinion is we don't. i think we have plenty of laws on the books. but we need to do a better job enforcing the laws we have. one of the things that concerns me is that our borders aren't secure. we have a rather casual way for people to come and go as they please. >> reporter: high school teacher eddie diaz, whose parents immigrated from mexico, agrees ...worries the political rhetoric of the election cycle has had a corrosive effect. >> demonizing people isn't going to help. it's just going to make it a challenge that's going to go on for generations. >> reporter: diaz supports president obama, even though he didn't deliver on his promise of comprehensive immigration reform.

he says he can't vote for romney because he doesn't know where he stands. >> on immigration, just like other issues, he's shifted his positions and it's hard for me to nail down what he believes. the dream act, for example-- he's gone back and forth. this last debate, he said he would not veto it, whereas previous debates, he said he would veto it and not support it. there are a lot of issues with immigration where i can move to the middle. but the dream act is not one of them. >> reporter: although mr. obama supports a pathway to citizenship for young people brought to this country by undocumented parents, he did not get a bill through congress. instead, last june, he issued an executive order to delay deportation for those who qualify for up to two years. 24-year-old ana araica is applying for that deferment right now. she came to this country from

nicaragua nine years ago and has three young children. >> i want to become legal for my kids. because i want to be able to provide for them. i want to work. >> reporter: araica is getting help with her application from sandra sanchez with the iowa american friends service network. sanchez says programs that encourage young immigrants to become legal citizens should be welcomed by iowans. >> we are a state that is aging, and that is aging very rapidly. our baby boomers are retiring. and we're not having young people stay here, other than immigrants. we need to understand that immigration in iowa is actually an asset.

and we could tap into that asset and manage it in such a way that we can grow. >> reporter: with polls in iowa showing president obama with a thin but steady lead, it's likely that both candidates will try to tap into the growing number of latino voters. >> brown: online, you can watch a video profile of the town of perry, iowa, on our politics page. >> woodruff: and to the analysis of shields and brooks. that's syndicated columnist mark shields and "new york times" columnist david brooks.

so one of the things he said was to to him immigration reform is the second big, and yet it barely comes up. he is not ready for obvious rrntion it is a tough issue and mitt romney is not for obvious reason sois think if obama is re-elected i'm not sure, it is to the going to be a top priority. >> re-elected? >> re-elected, just gave me a cold chill. >> maybe in the second term it will be. if obama is re-elected he will be. and i suspect they would be happy to go back to george w. bush was trying to do a few years ago. but it is a tragedy we haven't really talked about because it is much harder to get something passed. >> how do you see it. >> i think the republican party is kursd and it's cursed itself. and they spent 22 debate,

presidential candidates arguing about who was the most against or building the biggest, widest most daunting even electrified wall to keep people out. and mitt romney ran to the right of newt gingrich and rick perry. he was the most try ghent-- strident, round them up and toss them out of the country. >> energy time, and political capital to pass legislation state after state to make it more difficult to vote, primarily for latinos. and third they don't campaign in their neighborhoods or their community t they don't ask for their vote, and finally mitt romney and his unguarded moment at boca raton in his 47 percent speech taped without his knowledge says that he would be better off if he could run as a latino because his father was born in mexico. i mean if you are a 19 or 20-year-old latino this is going to cost your support

for the republican party as a generation. they ignored george w. bush, jeb bush, his brother who has been quite enlightened on the subject and said you cannot, in this country, continue to win only with white people's votes. and i just, i think that the very enlightened voices i heard in iowa, in the piece, you know, i hope the republicans heed them. because we are looking at an election right now where barack obama will probably get over 70% of latino vote. >> woodruff: so a net negative for the republicans? >> oh, yeah, increasingly. and i agree with the political analysis. i do think there is a pretty bipartisan from democrats who desire to close the border, to secure the border. or they will-- before they will trust washington to do anything on the immigration reform. but as far as the political prognosis, you can talk to karl rove, ken mel nunn, who ran the republican party, they can look at the demographics t is simple and obvious that it has just been shrink. within a few years you have swing state, maybe not even

swing state, new mexico, nevada, texas starts becoming a swing state. >> a blue state. >> the trends are so damn obvious, but they walk the other way. >> woodruff: so the campaign, the rest of the campaign, mark, jobs numbers out today. but how doe this fit in and where does this stand. >> don't pop the champagne. we're a long way from five percent but i mean the jobs numbers were better than expected which is always good. and they were increased from both august and september. they were higher. and with rising house prices, home prices, and confidence and optimistic index being highest, the hghest in five years, this is all encouraging news. i mean it's not determinive news but all encouraging news for an incumbent. >> woodruff: does it affect the campaign, do you think? >> i'm not sure the last jobs numbers have a huge effect. in 1992 george h.w. bush had

bigger jobs numbers. he had really significant growth. people used the economy had will be been locked. nonetheless the last couple of weeks of the campaign, you have to say there have been a series of events that helped the president, none of which hugely cons consequence but that would be the colin powell endorsement, the blockberg em dors am, the jobs numbers, a series of things that have gone the president away. if you look at the polling there has been a slide move nationally, rock solid wins or not wins but leads in the swing states. and then the final thing, and this is something you should really look for in a re-elect rate, what's the president's job approval numbers. that's something that is just a very good indicator. and i looked this morning, and it was 49.5 or so if you average a bunch of polls together. that's good enough, that's putting him very close to be good enough to win. >> woodruff: under 50%. >> it's under 50 but george w. bush was more or less around there when he got re-elected. so it is possible to win

with a 49 plus job approval. >> woodruff: how do you see it? this is the week of the storm, the president was off the campaign trail. >> sure. two things. i think david's right about the job, the president's job approval number. in fact, rather than averaging polls i just went to look at the same poll, "the wall street journal" nbc poll asked the same question in 2004 just before the election. that they did in 2012. the incumbent president then, george w bush had a 49% kpaferable-- favorable job rating, 48% unfavourable. barack obama is 49 percent favorable, 48% unfavourable. >> woodruff: exactly the same. >> right direction for the country, 41% then, 41% now. and would you be pleased positive if the president were re-elected, 50% said yes then, 50% say yes now. so and george w. bush won with 50.7%. i think the biggest event quite beyond either party's control is obviously the tragic of sandy's storm, the

death and devastation it left in its wake. but at a time, judy, only elected executives, mayor, governors and presidents are legitimate spokespeople at a time like this. it is interesting, i didn't hear a single grover norquist small government champion at the time when the storm comes down and we're looking for help, we're looking for whether it's c-1 10b, 130s to bring in equipment, to deflood the city, all the way around. and i think the president stepped up and he got an unanticipated validation from governor christie. one of mitt romney's strongest supporters, the keynoter at the convention said the president has been excellent. he's been gone beyond, it's been a pleasure and a privilege to work with him. that fema had been phenomenal. and you will recall in the 2,000 debate, first debate jim lehrer asked george w. bush, tell us one good thing

about bill clinton. >> fema an james lee whit, and the tragedy of gorge w bush's administration, fema and michael brown at the time of katrina. barack obama rebuilt it. and we are seeing it it work and respond. >> woodruff: do you think the storm could be making that much of a difference. >> i think the perception and you see activity and you see the chris christie thing. people are saying why is christie doing this, for his own mattal ambitions. >> i don't think there is anything like that when you are the governor of a state, a state you love that is in your heart and soul you feel an intense sense of stewardship. and when it gets wallopped by the storm the poll particulars seems irrelevant at this point. and as christie said, i don't care about the politics. if he is going to help me with my state, he is going to help the people of my state, then i'm grateful and i will work with him. so i think it is as simple as that. and i think he has been perfectly willing to hold the view that he's not a good steward of the economy, not good on budget

negotiations but he's good on this. and we worked together on this. i don't think that is politically inconsistent. but nonetheless, as a-- about where the election is-- you know, people are being reasonably confident, i think bloomberg, christie, obama very merged recently well. >> woodruff: so just three more days until everybody goes to vote, who is going to vote. there have been a lot of early voting. mark, what are you looking for these last few days what are you listening for? >> i guess you know ohio as much as anything, judy. i mean i don't think-- i have listened to the windup speeches, the closing arguments. they haven't made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. maybe i'm missing something. mitt romney began by telling us, i believe in america. he's ending it by i believe in america. barack obama says i represent change. and don't go back to where we were. romney is sort of the candidate of restoration and

obama is the candidate of continuation. but i, you know, i don't-- there is no defining event, i guess, or statement that i'm looking for in the last couple of days. >> woodruff: what are you hearing? >>. >> i thought mitt romney gave maybe the best speech of his campaign today, sort of a little late it was in wisconsin, a number of people said it was a speech he should have given at the convention. it was more eloquent. it was not an original, new argue. but it was a more eloquent, more beautifully phrased speech of why do you think the next four days-- years will be different than the last four. things about business, the pta doesn't have a union you about president obama will really step short on education reform because he answers to his political supporters it was familiar arguments but phrased more beautifully. will it swing votes at this late date, sort of dubious. but there have been occasions when votes have shifted in the last few days. i think the dui story which hit george w. bush in 2000, i think that did shift. but it takes something sort of extraordinary.

>> the thing i think that will stand out after if we hadn't had sandy would be the story of the week is the really shameless ad that the romney people put on in ohio that chrysler was going to ship its production overseas to china. by the fact that chrysler has already committed $500 million of creation of production in toledo and 1100 new jobs there. but it was just, it was really scaring people, you know, that somehow the president had been part of bailing out chrysler and gm and ordered to ship those jobs, and the production overseas to china. that was shall did -- and he got attacked by the republican papers in the state including the youngstown vindicater being indefensible. and i just think it had to be the product of, conclusion that the auto bailout really was a mountain too high for him to climb. and they had to somehow

destroy booma's credibility. >> woodruff: and the romney campaign is saying the ad is accurate, that it is factual. >> they seem to be the only ones though, to be honest saying that. and so one of the questions of the campaign is does that hurt. has anybody been hurt by doing a dishonest adment so far we haven't seen that much evidence. i do think there is some evidence that people are just getting sick of it they are saying this is the most dishonest race we've seen. so it is possible that some of t very early ads that obama ran against romney last summer could turn out to be the crucial things that turn the whole election, i think a number of them were dishonest. maybe not as dishonest opinions about romney's business career and what was closing when he left bain, and things like that but i hope somehow we have learned a lesson that dishonesty doesn't pay. but so far it's hard to see, no one in the campaign has drawn that lesson. >> this is one that brought general motors and chrysler off the sidelines.

the c.e.o. of chrysler and gm saying this is beyond anything of-- . >> woodruff: we don't want you on the sidelines, you will be right here with us next monday, tuesday, as long as it takes until we know what the results is. >> woodruff: mark shield, david brooks. and mark and david keep up the and mark and david keep up the talk on the "doubleheader," recorded in our newsroom. that will be posted at the top of the rundown later tonight. >> brown: finally tonight, a preview of a pbs election special: an in-depth look at the candidates and their plans to address the nation's most critical issues. "what's at stake" was produced by "need to know," with contributions from its own correspondents, as well as "frontline," "washington week," and the newshour. one segment is a report i did on subjects that have not been part of the conversation this election year. here's an excerpt about gun violence, beginning with a largely ignored fact of life in 2012, a series of mass shootings. >> two kills and nine wounded outside the empire state building, seven killed at a university in oakland,

california, seven dead at a sikh temple in oak creek, wisconsin. 12 killed and dozens more wound at a move yee these per in aurora, colorado. and then there was this. >> i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the -- >> congresswoman gabby giffords leading the democratic national convention in the pledge of allegiance some 20 months after she was shot in the head in arizona. >> with liberty and justice for all. (cheers and applause) >> there was one brief exchange during the second debate about gun violence. >> i also share your belief that weapons that were designed for soldiers in war theatres don't belong on our streets. >> i'm not in favor of new pieces of legislation on guns and taking guns away or making certain guns illegal. >> reporter: but during three hours of debates

devoted to domestic matters the phrase "gun control" was never mentioned, not even by the democratic incumbent. >> you'll find the rest of that segment >> brown: you'll find the rest of that segment and much more on our pbs election special, "what's at stake," airing tonight on most pbs stations. >> the major development, the u.s. economy created more jobs than expected in october. but the unemployment rate went up as more people looked for work. president obama hald the job growth while republican mitt romney said rising unemployment proves the president's policies have failed. and in the northeast there were growing demands to restore basic services in the wake of hurricane sandy. is politicking from the pulpit appropriate? we examine that on-line. kwame holman explains >> holman: a group of pastors wants the right to endorse political candidates, despite an i.r.s. rule prohibiting it. watch a video about the debate. and on "art beat," we look at a new translation of "the inferno" from poet mary jo bang that

offers up a modern look at dante's epic. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. judy. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. on monday, we'll wrap up the final day of campaigning and report on the candidates' last push in ohio. i'm judy woodruff. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. "washington week" can be seen later this evening on most pbs stations. we'll see you online, and again here monday evening. have a nice weekend, and don't forget to set your clocks back. thanks for joining us. good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> intel-- sponsors of tomorrow. >> and by the bill and melinda gates foundation. dedicated to the idea that all people deserve the chance to live a healthy, productive life. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations.

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